A small Somerset village will rapidly expand after plans for 40 new homes were narrowly approved after a three-year wait.

Strongvox Homes Ltd, J. D. W. Puddy & A. E. Reader originally put forward plans in July 2019 to build 50 homes on the Beavers Lodge Farm site in Lympsham, between Highbridge and Weston-super-Mare.

The developers subsequently downgraded their proposals to 40 homes following extensive discussions with Sedgemoor District Council’s planning officers and numerous rounds of public consultation.

These plans were finally given the thumbs up by the council’s development committee when it met in Bridgwater on Thursday morning (July 21) – just over three years after the plans were first submitted.

The site lies on Lympsham Road near the key A370 Bridgwater Road, which connects Weston-super-Mare to the A38 leading to Bridgwater and Cheddar.

Of the 40 homes which will be built on the site, 16 will be “local needs affordable homes”, which will be offered to people with close connections to the village.

James Cole, who lives at Coppice Cottage directly opposite the site, said the village could not cope with this development on top of the Lime Grove estate (comprising 20 properties) which is being delivered by LiveWest.

He said: “If this scheme is approved, 60 houses – all outside the village development boundary – will be built.

“This is excessive and unsustainable for a settlement with just 235 dwellings according to the 2011 census – a 25 per cent increase in the number of dwellings, generating demand for local services and employment on a scale that cannot be met.”

Mr Cole also contended that the number of homes was far more than the  Lympsham housing needs assessment, which was carried out in August 2019 – meaning the development “would not meet local housing need”.

Heather Allsop, speaking on behalf of Lympsham Parish Council, said the justification for the homes was “very questionable indeed” in light of much of the site being deemed at high risk of flooding by the Environment Agency (EA).

She added: “Lympsham is the nearest village to the River Axe before it reaches the Somerset coast.

“We are a village at risk of tidal flooding, and the EA does not guarantee regional flood defences will protect us from exceptional flood events.

“During the summer, we have an influx of caravans, motorhomes and double-decker buses using this road as a shortcut to Brean. This can only add to the congestion.”

Strongvox, which is based in Taunton, has had a mixed record with the council in recent times, drawing the ire of ward members when it attempted in early April to remove all the affordable homes from its Cricketers Farm development in Nether Stowey – leading one councillor to remark that the village had been “stabbed in the back for the sake of sheer profit”.

While this attempt proved ultimately successful, officers turned down plans later in April for 35 homes on the B3140 Brent Road in East Brent, criticising the homes’ “contrived” and “poor quality” design.

Despite this, after around an hour’s debate, the committee voted to approve the plans by a margin of six votes to five, with three abstentions.